12 Steps To Improving Trade Show Booth Traffic

In today’s ever-evolving business climate, trade show events still persist. Why? Because they work. Trade shows provide an excellent
venue to increase your brand’s visibility, showcase your latest products and services and connect with thousands of potential customers- all within
a short span of time. But with so little time and a lot of competition, how can your brand stand out?
By connecting and engaging with attendees before, during, and after the trade show. How your brand engages with customers before
and after the show is just as important as the event...

Explaining Explainer Animations...with an Explainer Animation

Two minutes. That’s how long it takes for most animated explainer videos to fully communicate a main point. And yet,
within those two minutes, these highly engaging videos (also known as explainer animations) can do more for your brand than
a 50-page proposal or even a 100-foot billboard ever could.
The simple fact is that consumers are using video more than ever before to make purchasing decisions, with studies showing that landing page conversion rates can increase by 80 percent after the inclusion of a
video.
Explainer...

Applied Art & Technology Wins 2018 Telly Awards

Applied Art & Technology has been awarded two 2018 Telly Awards for work they produced with clients in the last year.
“What If,” a spot created for Iowa State University Football was awarded the Silver Telly for Sports Advertising. A collaboration
with the Iowa State Athletics Marketing team, the spot follows key members of the ISU football team as they prepare for the 2017 football season.
In addition, an animated explainer video created for Direct Connect Logistix, Inc., a nation-wide transportation...

Four Video Marketing Trends to Keep an Eye On

Fads and trends. Both are current. Both are popular. But one fades fast, while the other grows and evolves. Fads from the past are fun to look back at...and
maybe point and laugh at. Furbies, mall bangs, and mood rings had their heyday, but thankfully, they’ve come and gone. When it comes to marketing,
it’s important to differentiate between trends and fads to ensure you don’t sink your campaign before you even get started.
So, what are some current video trends you should care about? The answer is not simply ‘more social media’ or ‘more...

Des Moines AAF Award Winners

Congratulations to our many clients who were big winners at this years American Advertising Awards! It was a great night to connect with friends &
colleagues old and new.
Three cheers for ZLR IGNITION for winning a Gold Award for their 'Overdose' PSA. We thoroughly enjoyed helping you bring a dramatic
and important concept to life.
In addition, we won Silver Awards for our work with Iowa State Athletics and the Des Moines Art Center. Take a look our award-winning work below!
...

6 Ways to Make a Great Pre-Roll Video

You’re about to watch your daily dose of funny cat fail videos on YouTube. As you choose a clip, you get slammed with a local mattress store ad yelling
about their ‘BIG BIG SAVINGS’. You have no interest in mattresses, cringe, and quickly scramble for the skip button. This is how some marketers are
attempting to use pre-roll video. And it is a massive waste of time.
A large percentage of pre-roll videos are just recycled broadcast spots that a company reuses from other placement campaigns. For viewers, it is...

Creating a Killer Spot With Measurable Results

Our client Greater Iowa Credit Union came to us with an idea. They did the research and learned that a large segment of their target demographic
were viewers of the show “The Walking Dead.” So why not reach that audience using a wisecracking pair of walking dead?
And that’s where Applied Art came in. We worked with Greater Iowa to create a killer spot for their killer mobile banking app.
And beyond fulfilling many a team member’s bucket list item to work with zombies, we also created a

Applied Art Digital Specialist and recent college graduate, Ryan Snaadt, was awarded top tier honors for a marketing solution he
developed for Sonic Drive-In restaurants through MindSumo.
MindSumo.com is a platform for organizations to get a different perspective on young consumer
behavior by posing questions to millennials. Businesses and other organizations offer top prizes and recognition to individuals who develop the best
solutions to solve their marketing problems.
Referred to MindSumo by a college professor and mentor, Ryan submitted his first solution...

Our Favorite Commercials

We know a thing or two about creating ads for broadcast. In fact, that’s how Applied Art got its start almost 25 years ago! Style and technology have changed
radically over the years, but one thing remains the same, the ability to tell a good story.
Take a look at some of our all time favorites….
Heather Creswell enjoyed working on sets and art direction for “30 Somethings,” a spot celebrating the Iowa Lottery’s 30 Year Anniversary. Many other Applied
Artisans enjoyed unloading some of the outdated decor and technology they’d been hoarding for too long.

It’s Zombie Season

October. The temperatures are cooler and the smell of pumpkin spice fills the air. The fall TV schedule is finally starting to kick in, and the new season
of Walking Dead is finally here. Is there a better time to produce a zombie spot?
Recently, Applied Art & Technology had the opportunity to produce a TV spot with Greater Iowa Credit Union. A commercial, featuring a couple of the
walking dead, that will air only during the Walking Dead and the after show, Talking Dead. The concept was to make...

“It's up to me to make that finished piece, what's coming out of the camera, look good.” - Eric Sahrmann

What is the most interesting project you’ve done? One that stands out. Good or bad.
One that stands out is the one I won a CLIO Award for, the "Strong Babies" campaign. The client came to us and wanted us to create CG babies. We had brainstorming sessions and came to the conclusion that instead of CG, photography
and retouching would be the way to do it because skin is a very hard thing to do in CG.
I think it was a two-week long...

What do Strong Babies, UnderArmour, and a Clio have in common?

Applied Art & Technology is excited to announce that Eric Sahrmann has joined our team as Creative Director.
Eric is an industry-recognized creative, with awards that include a Clio Award for his "Strong Babies" campaign and a Graphis Platinum Award for his work with the Saratoga Shakespeare Company.
He relocated from Chicago where he was a director of photography and creative director in the visual effects industry, working with international brands
such as Under Armour and Bose.
“Eric’s portfolio says everything about why we hired him,”...

Shooting Drone Footage and Keeping It Legal

Drones are everywhere. Martha Stewart uses one to survey her massive estate for areas to improve. In the near future, Amazon plans to deliver that thing
you need right away to your front door using a drone. And drones have the ability to capture stunning 4K footage for your next video
project.
It’s tempting to jump in and hire ‘that guy with a drone,’ to capture footage for you. But when you start delving into the regulations of operating a drone
for commercial purposes, things get dicey.
...

Is Time-lapse Photography the Next Big Thing In Marketing and Advertising?

How to get and keep your audience's attention.
This is the ultimate goal of marketers and advertisers. Over the years, several eye-catching techniques have evolved and one trusted technique has recently
become popular again. Time-lapse. Seeing something happen faster-than-real-time can have an almost hypnotic effect.
You can do short, creative time-lapse videos with your phone using apps like Hyperlapse. They’re easy to make and easy to share. But what if you’re trying
to show a process that takes days, or even months to complete? You...

We’re growing!

Check out our awesome new studio in the sky.
Maybe it’s not part of the whole “tiny home” movement, but it’s a start right?
With the consistent need for additional studio space at Applied Art, we’ve finally decided to make one of our long term dreams a reality. We built a treehouse!
Oh, this isn’t a typical treehouse, it’s a 1500 sq. ft. “studio” in the sky. Fully equipped with bridges, ladders, green room, multiple TV screens, wifi,
drop down developer bunks, a fully stocked bar, and a restroom.
The highlight of the new studio is a 1000 sg.ft..soundstage that...

To Infinity And Beyond!

Applied Art & Technology is once again positioned at the leading edge of technology and we are proud to announce the latest addition to our aerial
photography fleet!
The business world today takes place on a much larger, more global scale, and the pace of that business is faster than ever. Quickly gathering video assets
from multiple locations around the world can be a logistical nightmare. And maintaining a unified look for that footage can add complexity to an already
challenging acquisition plan. Quadcopter drones, while still...

The secret advantage for creating perfect Pre-roll

You have 5 seconds
You know what pre-roll is. Hopefully you’ve figured out who you want to target and how much you want to spend. Now all you need is the video. This is where the process gets a little complicated.
There are over 300 hours of video uploaded to YouTube every minute of every day. 24/7!
When your video/ad pops up, you only have five seconds to hook your viewer.
How can you possibly cut through all the noise, clutter and chatter and grab your audience’s attention? Is this even possible?
Yes, it is possible. Great...

Why creating Pre-Roll videos on YouTube makes great sense

What Is Pre-roll?
You’re having a rough day, so you head to YouTube to find a little happiness in the “cat who rides the robot vacuum while dressed as a shark." But first!
This message from Geico.
That’s a pre-roll ad.
For now, we’re going to discuss pre-roll as it exists in YouTube world. Twitter recently started to offer pre-roll ad options, but we’ll cover that in
another blog post.
So, why are we starting with YouTube? YouTube is currently the second largest search engine after Google (who owns YouTube). Every month, over 1 billion
...

Super Bowl Commercials

Everybody knows the Super Bowl isn’t about football. Or, it isn’t only about football. It’s about parties and friends and food and Beyoncé and commercials.
In fact, in my mind the order of importance is:
Friends
Commercials
Food (possibly higher on this list if it’s fried)
That sports game being played on TV
So, what did we like?
Music-based spots scored high with Applied Artisans. Our sympathies went out to the affable rapper Drake in T-Mobile’s ad, in which he faced revisions
...

5 best uses for explainer animations

Explainer animations are short videos, usually used for marketing, that help explain a company's product or service. They have become extremely popular
and can be a great way to engage an audience and get the word out about your company.
Here are 5 great uses for explainer animations:
To visualize an abstract concept, idea or service. Let’s say you offer a really cool service. It’s a bit abstract and sometimes
your prospects have a hard time...

3 Reasons to Use a Drone

We’ve all seen awesome towering high shots and adrenaline packed extreme sports footage captured by drones. People are captivated by looking at the world from a new perspective.
Here are 3 ways drone footage can fascinate and hold your audience’s attention.
Capture a Unique Perspective. People are drawn to the “new” and unique. There is no better way to turn heads and draw attention then to show video footage from a different or rarely seen perspective. Low level drone flights can follow subjects from place to place, can zoom up and out, and skim across land just a...

It's Harvest Time

Fall. Cooler temperatures, pumpkin spice everything and bountiful fields buzzing with sounds of combines...and an Applied Art & Technology crew, shooting spectacular footage of farms, fields, crops and equipment.
How often do you say to yourself (or your editor), “this piece could really use some dramatic, harvest shots!”? Well, the moment has arrived. There’s a
narrow window of time right now and we want to join you on site to capture beautiful, dramatic footage of harvest to be used for your projects throughout
the year.
...

The Telly Awards has named Applied Art & Technology in cooperation with FLM+ as a Bronze winner in the 36th Annual Telly Awards for “The Clayton Yeutter
Tribute Video”. With nearly 12,000 entries from all 50 states and numerous countries, this is truly an honor.
The video describes Clayton Yeutter’s efforts, both in government and the private sector, that have had a lasting impact on the worldwide economy. He served
as Secretary of Agriculture, U.S. Trade Representative and Counselor to the President, and also spent several years as CEO of the Chicago Mercantile
...

Beware Stats That End in Zero

Psychiatrist William Glasser’s research about how we retain information says that we remember:
10% of what we read
20% of what we hear
30% of what we see
50% of what we see and hear
70% of what we share/discus
80% of what we experience
95% of what we teach others
Sounds nice, right? And it fits right in with what we do: We tell our clients’ stories using audio and visuals to reinforce the message. But these...

How Old Do I Look?

You may have heard about the “How Old Do I Look” website that was launched last week by a couple of developers
at Microsoft and has since gone viral. You can upload a photo of anyone and the site will try to determine the gender and age. It’s sometimes amazingly
accurate and other times hilariously wrong.
The site was built as a demonstration of Microsoft’s Azure machine learning suite of API’s. An
API allows third party developers to integrate functionality from other software into their own...

53 Uses for Video

As bandwidth increases and video production methods become more efficient, businesses are using video as a primary method of communicating with their customers
and prospects. Video is a marketer's media tool of choice for two reasons: Video is engaging and, more importantly, video is persuasive. Here are some
of the ways that businesses are using video to help improve their bottom line:
Advertising, Marketing and Promotion:
1. TV Commercials
TV commercials are still the best marketing investment. TV's ROI has increased by 22% in the last five years and is 2.5 times more effective at creating
...

New TV Spot for Greater Iowa Credit Union

With so many banking options, how does a bank or credit union cut through all the noise and attract new customers? Banks and credit unions are competing
for the vast Millennial market-- those born between 1982 to 1994. According to the US Census, there are three times as many Millennials as there are
Gen Xers. The Millennial generation are devoted to digital devices, mobile apps and digital identity, so a bank needs to have online and mobile apps
that work with ease. Millennials also value shopping locally and green business practices,...

Kari & Billy's New Music Video

Applied Art worked with Nashville artists Kari & Billy on their latest music video for the song "Whitetail Ridge". The video debuted at the BowTech
booth at the 2013 ATA show in Louisville, Kentucky. The song was also performed live as part of the grand opening.
"Whitetail Ridge" is from the album "Medal of Honor", a compilation created by BowTech to honor U.S. military service members. The video was shot on the
farm of Jeff State in rural Mederville, Iowa on the Red Epic camera and edited by Applied Art's Michael Rossow.

Iowa Lottery Cash Bonanza TV Spot

Applied Art & Technology, The Integer Group, and the
Iowa Lottery joined forces once again to create a series of TV spots for the Lottery's new scatch game, Cash Bonanza. Utilizing back-to-back :15
second spots, the campaign takes a light-hearted look at the different kinds of reactions winners might have.
There's The High-Fiver, The Arm Flapper, The Screamer,The Laugher, The Disbeliever, the Jumper, The Crier, and The...

Iowa Lottery Silver Anniversary TV Spot

Applied Art & Technology teamed up with The Integer Group and their client, the Iowa Lottery,
to create an exciting new TV spot for the Lottery's Silver Anniversary. By combining live-action foreground elements with 2D and 3D background elements,
Applied Art's animators were able to bring the ambitious storyboard to life.
Creatives Bryan Loop and Jeff Warren, along with Kent Fieldsend and Megan Kruger, represented Integer during the production. And from the Iowa Lottery,
Sally Robson oversaw the project.
Marty Jorgensen directed for Applied Art, with George Christ lensing the live-action....

New Iowa Lottery Ad Features Iowa Veterans

Applied Art provided the video editing, treatment, and graphics for the newest Iowa Lottery spot using Adobe® Photoshop and After Effects software.
The TV ad features images of veterans who have received assistance through the Iowa Veterans Trust Fund and agreed to be part of the campaign to help spread
the word about the help that's available. You’ll see veterans from across the state and from several different eras in the ad -- maybe even someone
you know! Click here for a sneak...

Vein Center at Iowa Heart Ad To Premier During Super Bowl...in HD

The Vein Center at Iowa Heart will be one of a few local companies who will be running HD commercials during this year's Super Bowl.
The ad, which features a couple doing the tango, was shot at The Temple For Performing Arts and produced
in association with Trilix Marketing Group. The campaign also includes a pair of tennis-themed spots which
will begin running in the spring.
View the ad
Learn more about the Vein Center at Iowa Heart at http://www.healthylegsmatter.com/.